- Ben Brantley, The New York Times

“A TERRIFIC new play, with EXQUISITE DIRECTION by MARK BROKAW.”

- Jesse Green, New York Magazine

“ONE OF THE MOST EMOTIONALLY COMPLEX AND FULFILLING PRODUCTIONS EVER TO GRACE A NEW YORK STAGE. MARY-LOUISE PARKER GIVES WHAT MAY BE THE PERFORMANCE OF HER LIFE.”

- Roma Torre, NY1

“NEARLY BOUNDLESS PLEASURE. MARY-LOUISE PARKER AND DENIS ARNDT ARE A MATCH MADE IN THE HEAVENS.”

- Jeremy Gerard, Deadline

HEISENBERG

BYSIMON STEPHENS

DIRECTED BYMARK BROKAW

WITH

DENIS ARNDT

MARY-LOUISE PARKER

ABOUT

World premiere play by Simon StephensDirected by Mark Brokaw
with Mary-Louise Parker & Denis Arndt

“Is this the strangest thing that two people have ever done in the history of the world?”

Amidst the bustle of a crowded London train station, Georgie spots Alex, a much older man, and plants a kiss on his neck. This electric encounter thrusts these two strangers into a fascinating and life-changing game.

Directed by Drama Desk Award winner Mark Brokaw (The Lyons, How I Learned to Drive), Heisenberg brings to blazing, theatrical life the uncertain and often comical sparring match that is human connection.

Internationally renowned for THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME, visionary playwright Simon Stephens returns to the New York stage with this sharply original world premiere starring Denis Arndt (The Night Alive, Basic Instinct) and Tony® and Emmy® winner Mary-Louise Parker (Proof, “Weeds”). Heisenberg was commissioned by Manhattan Theatre Club.

BIOS

Denis Arndt

Alex Priest

Recently played Maurice in The Night Alive at the Geffen Playhouse in LA. Prior to that: Prospero in Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s 2014 production of TheTempest. Also at OSF: title roles in King Lear, Titus Andronicus, Brand, The Father, and Coriolanus as well as Kurt in The Dance of Death, Burgoyne in The Devil’s Disciple, James Tyrone Jr. in A Moon for the Misbegotten, Jamie Tyrone in Long Day’s Journey into Night, Jack Rover in Wild Oats, Iago in Othello, Archie Rice in The Entertainer. New York theater: Soapy Smith in The Ballad of Soapy Smith, Richard II (The Public Theatre). Regional theatres include Seattle Repertory Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, Alley Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre, The Studio Theatre, Artists Repertory Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Intiman Theatre, Arena Stage, Goodman Theatre. TV/Film: Basic Instinct, Distant Thunder, Metro, Dolphin Tale 2, Bandidas, Sniper 3, Anacondas, S.W.A.T., Undisputed, How To Make An American Quilt, Firebeetle, Serious Money, Grey’s Anatomy, Supernatural, Boston Legal, 24, The Practice, CSI.

Mary-Louise Parker

Georgie Burns

Mary-Louise Parker’s performance in Manhattan Theatre Club’s production of David Auburn’s Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning play Proof earned her the 2001 Tony Award, as well as the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, Lucille Lortel, Obie, and New York Magazine Awards, and the T. Schreiber Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatre. Parker made her Broadway debut in Prelude to A Kiss, garnering a Tony Award nomination, a Theatre World Award, The Clarence Derwent Award and a Drama Desk nomination. She originated the role of ‘Li’l Bit’ in Paula Vogel’s Pulitzer Prize-winning How I Learned To Drive, which earned Parker an Obie Award, Lucille Lortel Award and an Outer Critics Circle nomination. She starred also in the Broadway revival of Reckless, for which she received her third Tony Award nomination. Parker starred in Sarah Ruhl’s Dead Man’s Cell Phone for Playwrights Horizons in 2008, and in the Roundabout revival of Hedda Gabler in 2009. She appeared most recently on Broadway in Sharr White’s original drama The Snow Geese for Manhattan Theatre Club and MCC, reuniting her with Proof director Daniel Sullivan.

Mary-Louise Parker’s work in on Showtime’s “Weeds” earned her the Golden Globe Award, as well as four Golden Globe nominations, the Satellite award, along with five nominations, three Emmy nominations, and six SAG nominations. Parker’s work in Mike Nichols’ Angels in America garnered her an Emmy award and the Golden Globe Award; and her work on “The West Wing” and in TV movie The Robber Bride were recognized with Emmy nominations, the latter winning her a Gemini Award. For the small screen she starred also in “Sugartime”, “Saint Maybe”, “A Place for Annie”, “Vinegar Hill”, and many others.

Audiences most recently saw Parker on the big screen in the hit action-comedies Red and Red 2 with Bruce Willis and Helen Mirren. She was also featured in R.I.P.D. alongside Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges and in Jamesy Boy and Behaving Badly.

Parker’s other film work includes Romance & Cigarettes, written and directed by John Turturro and produced by the Coen Brothers, and the dark Christian comedy Saved! Parker is known widely for her starring roles in Longtime Companion, Grand Canyon, Fried Green Tomatoes, Naked In New York, The Client, Bullets Over Broadway, Boys On The Side, Reckless, Pipe Dream, Red Dragon, The Best Thief In The World, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Solitary Man, Howl and The Five Senses, for which she was nominated for a Genie Award.

Additional theatre credits include Communicating Doors, Bus Stop, Four Dogs And A Bone, The Art Of Success, Throwing Your Voice, Babylon Gardens, The Importance Of Being Earnest, Up In Saratoga, The Miser, and Hay Fever. She co-founded the Edge Theater, where she performed in The Age Of Pie and The Girl In Pink, among other productions.

Parker is a contributing writer for Esquire magazine. She won the Robert Brustein Award for ‘Excellence in Theater’ and the Philadelphia Film Festival Award for ‘Career Achievement’ and was recently awarded Steppenwolf theaters’ ‘Excellence in the Arts’. Her personal and professional belongings, along with career memorabilia, are archived at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.

Simon Stephens

Playwright

is an award-winning playwright who began his theatrical career in the literary department of the Royal Court Theatre, as a tutor on the Young Writers’ Programme. His early work at the Royal Court includes Bluebird (1998); Herons (2001), Country Music (2004) and Motortown (2006). In 2008 his play Harper Regan opened at the National Theatre, and Sea Wall, starring Andrew Scott, played at the Bush. Stephens then had success with his plays Pornography (Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hanover, 2007 and Edinburgh Festival / Birmingham Rep, 2008 and Tricycle Theatre, 2009) and Punk Rock (Lyric Hammersmith / Manchester Royal Exchange, 2009) which won the 2009 Manchester Evening News Award for Best Production. 2012 saw Three Kingdoms performed in London, Tallinn and Munich, Morning at the Lyric Theatre, and a new version of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House at the Young Vic which subsequently transferred to the Duke of York’s Theatre in 2013. His adaption of Mark Haddon’s novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time won the Oliver Award for Best New Play (National Theatre, 2012; Apollo Theatre, 2013; Gielgud, 2014 – present; Barrymore Theatre on Broadway, 2014 – present). In 2014 Stephens premiered two new works to great critical acclaim: Carmen Disruption at Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, which comes to the Almeida Theatre in London in 2015, and Birdland at the Royal Court. Stephens’ new play Songs from Faraway, directed by award-winning Belgian director Ivo van Hove, will receive its UK premiere at the Young Vic in September 2015. Also in 2015, Heisenberg opens at MTC in New York, and The Funfair, Simon’s new version of Ödön von Horváth’s Kasimir and Karoline, opens at Home Theatre in Manchester. Stephens is Artistic Associate at the Lyric Theatre and Associate Playwright at the Royal Court. He was also on the board for Paines Plough between 2009 and 2014. Stephens also writes for radio; plays include Five Letter Home to Elizabeth (2001) and Digging (2003), both BBC, Radio4. Simon’s screenwriting includes a two-part serial Dive (with Dominic Savage) for Granada / BBC (2009), a short film adaptation of Pornography for Coming Up: Channel 4 (2009) and Cargese for Sprout Pictures (Sky Arts, 2013). Other awards include the 2001 Pearson Award for Best Play, for Port and the 2005 Olivier Award for Best New Play for On The Shore of the Wide World. Stephens has won the Theater Heute’s Award for Motortown in 2007, Pornography in 2008 and Wastwater in 2011.

Mark Brokaw

Director

New York credits include Cinderella, The Lyons, Olive and the Bitter Herbs, The New York Idea, The Language Archive, After Miss Julie, Distracted, Suddenly Last Summer, The Constant Wife, Mouth to Mouth, The Busy World is Hushed, Cry-Baby, Reckless, The Long Christmas Ride Home, Lobby Hero, 2.5 Minute Ride, This Is Our Youth, Dying Gaul, As Bees in Honey Drown, How I Learned to Drive, The Good Times Are Killing Me. Regional includes Guthrie, Seattle Rep, Center Theatre Group, South Coast Rep, Hartford Stage, La Jolla, Steppenwolf, Yale Rep, Berkeley Rep, Sundance and the O’Neill Conference. He has directed at London’s Donmar Warehouse and Dublin’s Gate Theatre, is the Artistic Director of the Yale Institute for Music Theatre and is an Artistic Associate of the Roundabout Theatre.

Donald Holder

Lighting Design

MTC: The American Plan, Sight Unseen, After Play, Romantic Poetry, The Violet Hour, many others. Broadway credits include On the Twentieth Century (Roundabout), The King and I (LCT), The Lion King and South Pacific (Tony Awards); The Bridges of Madison County, Golden Boy, Ragtime, Les Liasons Dangereuses, A Streetcar Named Desire, Movin’ Out, Gem of the Ocean, Juan Darien (all Tony nominated); You Can’t Take It With You; Thoroughly Modern Millie; Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark; Big Fish; Bullets Over Broadway; Promises, Promises; La Cage aux Folles; Cyrano De Bergerac; The Boy From Oz; many others. Television: “Smash” seasons 1 and 2.

David Sugarman

Production Stage Manager

MTC: Lost Lake, House and Garden. Broadway: A Time to Kill, Mary Poppins, The Merchant of Venice, South Pacific, Pygmalion, Journey’s End, The Times They Are A-Changin’, Amour, The Elephant Man, The Dance of Death, Jane Eyre, Marlene, Little Me, 1776, Taking Sides, Indiscretions. Tours: Hairspray, Fosse, West Side Story. Off-Broadway: Between Riverside and Crazy, Piece of My Heart, Playwrights Horizons, Second Stage, City Center Encores!, MCC Theater, Theatre for a New Audience. Regional: Williamstown Theatre Festival, Old Globe, Mark Taper Forum.

Lynne Meadow

Artistic Director, Manhattan Theatre Club

has been the artistic visionary and leader of Manhattan Theatre Club since 1972, creating work that has put the company at the forefront of the American theatre. Lynne has overseen hundreds of world, US and New York premieres; directed dozens of new plays on and off Broadway; and accepted every major theatre award (Tonys, Drama Desks, Obies, etc.) on behalf of the company. Awards include Mr. Abbott Award, Lucille Lortel and Lilly awards for Lifetime Achievement, Louis Auchincloss Prize and is a 2013 Theater Hall of Fame inductee. Teaching: Yale, Fordham, NYU.

Barry Grove

Executive Producer, Manhattan Theatre Club

is in his 40th year of partnership with Artistic Director Lynne Meadow at MTC, where he has produced hundreds of American and world premieres for MTC. He serves on the Broadway League Board of Governors and the Tony Administration Committee, and is a Trustee of the Equity-League Pension and Health Trust Funds. He is past President of the Off-Broadway League and A.R.T./New York. A Dartmouth graduate, he is a member of the Board of Overseers of its Hopkins Center for the Arts and an adjunct professor at both Yale and Columbia universities.

Florie Seery

General Manager, Manhattan Theatre Club

joined MTC in 2005. An active member of the New York theatre community for over 25 years, she began as a company manager on commercial and not-for-profit productions and served as a general manager for Disney Theatricals and Stuart Thompson Productions. A graduate of Smith College, she serves on the Broadway Salutes Committee.